Over Rs 195 crore cash seized by EC; 11,000 FIRs filed

Election Commission officials seal an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) prior to the start of voting at a polling station in Dibrugarh, Assam. (AFP photo)

Over Rs 195 crore of cash has been seized so far by Election Commission (EC) appointed teams, with Andhra Pradesh topping the list.

According to official data prepared till Monday, the EC-appointed Election Expenditure Observers have so far seized a total of Rs 118 crore cash in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 18.31 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 14.40 in Maharashtra, Rs 10.46 crore in Uttar Pradesh and over Rs 4 crore in Punjab including numerous other small seizures in rest of the states.

Also, the total liquor seized stands at 26.56 lakh litres, heroin 70 kg while 11,469 FIRs have been registered against distribution of cash and illegal inducements in various states.

A senior official, part of the EC-appointed team, said the 659-officer strong surveillance teams drawn from IRS and other central services have been deputed to all the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies and they are reporting cash seizure instances since the polls were declared on March 5.

The Commission, as part of its measures to curb blackmoney and illegal funds in the polls, has deployed the 'expenditure observers' drawn from central revenue services like the Income Tax and Customs and Excise departments.

The EC, in order to keep a track of huge cash during the polls, has also asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), both agencies under the Union finance ministry, to keep a strict eye through their intelligence and investigative tools during the poll period.